Half Truths
by OptimisticEmotion
Summary: AU! Sequel to Forgot Not Forgotten! Demons and Angels may finally be able to get along well enough to save the world, all thanks to a batch of teenagers hanging out. Just in time for Tim, Kon, and Rose to get support for dealing with their idiot fathers before they cause even more damage to the poor teens.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Muwahahahahahahaaaaa! Miss me? I missed you! For those of you confused, this is a SEQUEL to my story ** _Forgot Not Forgotten_**. Please read it before reading this. Otherwise you WILL be confused. I am also trying to pick up a second job while trying to get a bunch of projects done simultaneously. I will not be updating this regularly. However, I WILL be updating this. I am DETERMINED to put this story to rest, the RIGHT way.

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Chapter One:

One Year Previous::

Rose Wilson was use to the road. It was the one constant in her life. Whenever the scene shifted and people's faces changed, she could always count on the road to pick her back up and take her somewhere new. Sure the type of road was sometimes different. Black top, gray lanes, dirt, gravel, cobblestone, but it was always did the same thing. It took what was in front of her and swiftly put it behind her.

At first she hated it. She didn't want to keep bouncing from foster home to foster home, wondering why she wasn't allowed to stay. She use to hold on to a hope that the next family would keep her, hold her under their wing until she was old enough to go on her own. That hope died after the fourth time she was handed all her earthly belongings in a black trash bag and ushered out the door, into the waiting car, and on that ever present road.

Rose gave up thinking that she could be 'good enough' for a family. She didn't need it. At fifteen, she already knew what eleven year old her didn't quiet understand. She was a left over. Unwanted, unneeded, always the extra kid in the background. Rose knew she was nothing special. In two years the young Wilson girl would probably find herself working in Walmart trying to afford a run down apartment that isn't worth the two cents she'll scrap together just to sleep there.

If she was lucky, she might find herself a cheap RV. Make a living doing odd jobs here and there and live gypsy style. Always on the road that had always been the one thing she could count on in life. That was her goal now. She no longer dreamed of being an international spy or a t.v. Chef. Rose Wilson wanted nothing more than to live on the road and be content.

Rose was shaken from her musings when the car stopped. The platinum blond couldn't help but sigh to herself. This was the part where her social worker opened the car door for her, she'll go meet her 'new family', they'll show her around and give her a quick run down on the house rules, and while they are 'so excited' to meet her, Mrs. Jeffery will wave her good bye and be off again. Maybe there will be other kids, maybe Rose might actually attempt to be pleasant conversation, and maybe the first night won't be as awkward as the 'Marleinie's' house.

"Rose, we're here." Mrs. Jeffery's voice was always that soft, patient tone. One that spoke volumes about how long she had been at this job. It didn't matter if she was upset at Rose or trying to comfort her, that tone was always that of someone who knows that the child she is talking to is going throw some shit, and no there isn't jack squat that she can do to make things better, so 'thank you very much for minding your own business'.

Rose didn't like taking her crap out on other people. She still did, but then always tried to make up for it if only to ease her own guilt before she got shipped off to a new home. As it was now, Jeffery and Rose had already come to an understanding years ago and that is what gets Rose to bite her tongue and slowly crawl out of the car.

"Oh, she's just precious!" The voice called before Rose even got a chance to look around her new surroundings. She immediately when to look at who spoke and saw an elderly couple standing out front of their home. Internally she groaned. Elder couples always gave you back after deciding they're too old to have to put up with a brooding teenager. Outwardly, though, Rose gave a half-smile and a nod of acknowledgment.

"Rose, this is Mr. Martin Capshaw and Mrs. Jennie Capshaw." Mrs. Jeffery introduced the couple.

"Oh, so formal. You can call us 'Mart' and 'Jen', Rose, it will make things much easier on everyone." Mrs. Capshaw insisted.

"Okay, uh, Jen." Rose gave another half-smile. They always insisted on being on a first name basis. Rose sometimes wondered how a family would react if she insisted they keep professional. Something to try in the next home she guessed.

"I can just take your things to your new room while you get settled." Mr. Capshaw offered.

"No thanks, I'll be fine carrying it." Rose tightened her grip on her bag.

"Ah, come on, it won't be too much trouble for me."

"Dear, leave the girl alone. She's not going to trust all she has in the world to a total stranger." Mrs. Capshaw chastised her husband with a gentle slap on his shoulder.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think about that." Mr. Capshaw gave a look that showed he didn't mean harm and stepped back. Rose tried not to furrow her brow at him, but hey, poker face wasn't exactly her dance move.

"Alright, I'm already late for my next appointment. Rose, think you'll be fine from here on?" Mrs. Jeffery asked. Ah, so it's going to be on of _those_ times.

"Yeah, I think I've got this." Rose waved her off. Well, she more waved her away, but either way she waved and her social worker was back in the car and on the road that Rose was already missing. She knew she wouldn't be missing it long. The ache was still there.

"Come inside, Rose, I'll make you a cup of chocolate while you get settled in." Mrs. Capshaw suggested.

"Sure. Why not?" Rose muttered as she followed the couple into their country home. Now that she was looking at it, she could see it was a decent sized home with faded white paint and large front yard. It'd be decent living for a few weeks, maybe months, before she finds herself off to the next home.

Rose Wilson was use to the road, and she knew that the road was never going to let her go.

* * *

Present Day ::

Tim was lounging around Dick's apartment waiting for his brother to either get back and go to the concert with him, or just flat out cancel. Tim couldn't really blame Dick if he canceled, they only just decided to go to the concert that morning. A part of Tim actually hoped he'd get a call freeing up his day. He was exhausted and wasn't really up to going to a crappy Cold Play concert and put up with their music while Dick tries, and fails, to convince him of their talent.

Most of his brain was stuck tight to thoughts about the vial he just hid away and what he was going to do about it. Did he really want to risk the memories his father had deemed too dangerous for him? But maybe he'd find out what that angel was talking about? The scales kept tipping back and forth leading him in an endless loop of 'what to do' with cartoon caricatures of himself on either shoulder arguing their point. (Oddly enough his brain also supplied that his devil self would be the one saying to trust his father and give the vial back while his angelic counter part pleaded for him to find out what memories were taken from him.)

It didn't help that it was his nature as an Informant Demon to want to learn any and all information the world had to offer. That vial was a gold mine of knowledge and he was forcing himself to put an arm distance from it. It was almost painful.

While in his little ball of insanity, Tim didn't notice Wally walking up to the couch behind him. It didn't exactly help that Tim was laying on it long ways in a faded tee-shirt, baggy jeans, and mismatched socks. Wally was pretty baffled at how un'bat'-like the scene was.

"Waiting for Dick?" Wally asked, startling the young demon. Tim actually jumped a bit and tried to sit up right once he noticed the lower demon.

"Oh, uh, yeah. He had to run off for a bit, but we were going to hang out later," Tim tried to explain. Wally just hummed and nodded before sitting in the recliner with a laptop.

"Hey, uh, Red Robin,-"

"Tim. You can call me Tim," Tim insisted giving Wally a wary smile.

Wally gave a gentle smile back. "Tim, then, I was wanting to be certain of something. I mean, I guess it should be obvious, but-" Tim could see Wally West trying to think about how he wanted to phrase his question. To help, Tim sat up right and showed that he was going to wait patiently for the other demon to finish his thought. "It's okay that I'm here, right?"

Tim bit his lip as he looked over Wally. The ginger was fiddling with his laptop without actually opening it, and his leg was bouncing slightly. The speedster's brown eyes also seemed incapable of meeting his, despite their frequent attempt.

"Actually, I think I owe you an apology, Wally," Tim sighed and ducked his head a bit. He still caught the look of utter shock that was on the lower demon's face. A Night demon apologizing to a Wind demon was, well, mostly, unheard of. "You weren't the one Bruce had forbid from seeing Dick. I was."

Tim took a breath after his confession before chancing a glance at the other. Wally looked completely at a loss for words. Copper brows knit together, mouth slightly open with a bit of movement as though trying to find the proper formation to make words, eyes fixed only in a general area as they moved frantically to find a clue for clarity, and back stiff and body tense as if ready to be on the move in an instant.

"I'm sorry, Wally. I was in no position to ward you away from Dick," Tim added, the weight in his gut solidifying as he waited for Wally's response.

It felt like an eternity before Wally finally started to speak again. "So, I'm not going to suddenly find myself apartment hunting anytime soon?"

Tim blinked at that. "Uh, no?"

"Well, then that's a load off my mind." Wally smiled brightly as he finally opened his laptop and started his work. Tim just watched as the older demon typed away happily. The younger sighed and went back to laying on the couch, staring at his phone.

"Hey, Re- erm, Tim," Wally broke the silence again.

"Yeah?" Tim looked over to him.

"I was wondering if it'd be a little too soon to ask a favor?" Wally asked, pausing his work.

Tim furrowed his brows and sat up again, this time to give the lower demon an incredulous look. "What favor?"

"Well, my uncle's son just passed away, and he had a bolt about your age. The kid doesn't really have any friends, I was, uh, I was wondering if you'd be willing for a pity play date?" Wally slowly sank in his chair as he made his request.

"A bolt? What's his name?" Tim asked.

"Bart Allen. He doesn't really have an official title yet, or a job." Tim mulled over the thought as Wally spoke. The young robin didn't really have any friends, not since Cas and Steph had been adopted in as their sisters. He didn't never had time for them, or so he'd told himself. Maybe getting to know someone might help with his dark-eye. And if the kid was too annoying or rude, Tim wasn't under any obligation to speak to him ever again. Besides, he did kind of owe Wally a favor after the way he treated someone who had taken care of his brother for the past year and a half.

"Sure. I'll meet him," Tim shrugged. Wally's eyes lit up at his reply.

"Really? Would you? That would be great!"

"When and Where?"

"Would later today work for you?" Wally asked as he pulled out his phone.

"Sure." Tim watched, or tried to watch, as Wally sat his laptop on the coffee table and rush down the hall to make a call, all in the matter of a millisecond. Yeesh, speedsters.

* * *

Conner and Cassy were finally in Gotham. They figured that Clark sent two cities to tell them that the new recruit would be somewhere between the two. They didn't really know how to go about finding a half demon. Actually, they had spent their whole lives learning how to _avoid_ anything demonic. So with both teen angels out of their depth, They figured they'd try going about it the same whey they did everything. Counted on luck to lead them the right direction.

The two of them were walking down a street the sign called 'Park Row'. It was seedy and dark, exactly where they figured a demon would be lurking. Demons liked dark and seedy, right? Neither angel could really say, but they did feel themselves being pulled toward deeper and deeper into the shady territory.

Eventually they heard a heated argument coming their way from around the corner. Deciding to keep out of sight, the two ducked into the nearby alley-way and watched as two men and a woman were screaming at each other. One of the men was waving about a gun, threatening to shoot the other two if they didn't agree to pay for the rent. Conner was about to step in until the woman called the guy an idiot and mentioned that he didn't even have enough money to put bullets into his gun. The armed man grumbled and put his fire arm away as the other two kept shouting at him.

"This place: really weird," Cassy announced quietly after the trio of Gothamites passed by.

"Just where is this half-demon suppose to be hiding?" Conner grouched.

"Secret," a faint voice answered.

"It was a rhetorical question Cass," Conner pouted to his almost girlfriend.

"I didn't say anything," Cassy insisted.

"Then who did?" Conner asked.

"Secret."

"Okay, I did not say that." Cassy started to look around for the disembodied voice.

"Who's there?" Conner called to the back of the alley.

"Secret."

"Please tell us. We aren't going to hurt you," Cassy tried. There was no response.

"Show yourself!" Conner called. Again, no reply. "I guess they ran off."

"Why would they?" Cassy asked.

"Secret."

"Okay you little troll! Where are you!?" Conner was coming close to shouting.

"Secret."

"Wait, Conner! I think I see a pattern here." Cassy put her hand on the half-angel's shoulder.

"What pattern?" Conner looked at her confused.

"Secret."

"They are only replying to questions!" Cassy pointed out. They both waited in silence to make certain that 'secret' was not said.

"Hu." Conner looked like he had an idea in his head that he wanted to try. "Which is better; Koke or Zetsi?"

"Secret."

"Zetsi is better."

"..."

"I think you're a ghost!"

"..."

"So who ya gunna call?"

"Secret."

"Ghost Busters!"

"..."

"Conner, cut it out!" Cassy rolled her eyes. She started to move to the back of the alley trying to find the owner of the voice. While she looked she would asked random questions that popped into her head (such as 'what's the weather in Florida', 'why is the sea blue', 'why is Conner an idiot', 'which came first, the chicken or the egg') and would listen for the reply. (which was always just 'secret', save for Conner's cry that he was _not_ an idiot.)

Eventually, Cassy found a small vent hidden behind a pile of trash. The two angels got to work clearing the debris from around it. The vent had a very rusty great that Conner easily broke off before they were kneeling by it. Cassy called out another question and the voice was finally loud and clear. It was a little girl's voice, and it sounded scared.

"Don't worry 'Secret', we'll get to you!" Cassy called out to her.

"How?" Conner asked, they were ignoring the 'secret' that came as response for the question.

"The vent is attached to this building, we'll go in and break down what ever else gets in our way," Cassy explained.

The two went around to the door to find the door had been boarded up with a thick metal chain to keep anyone from just ripping the boards off. Thankfully they weren't just anyone. Cassy and Conner each took a part of the chain in hand and yanked. The thick links snapped like cheap plastic shattering about the ground. They then worked on pulling the boards off one at a time. Soon enough they were able to get to the metal door underneath. Conner tried the handle to find it locked. He just put a bit more force behind it and the latch snapped off. The door opened smoothly, well the rust would have made it impossible for any human to open it, and the two made their way inside.

The building was once a home. A very nice home. There was a nice wide set of stairs that split a very spacious living room on the right, and a rather short hall on the left. The hall had two doors covered in mildew and cobwebs. Then again, everything was covered in mildew and cobwebs, but the doors had to lead to the room that 'Secret' had to be trapped in considering that was the side of the building that faced the alleyway. Conner tried to listen closely, hoping to sense life of some kind. He had nothing to show for it. They decided to investigate the natural way: by opening doors and looking around.

The first room was completely bare, not even so much as graffiti to fill the empty walls. The next door lead to a set of stairs that lead to a basement. Cassy and Conner shared a look at the sight of the steep, cold, stone steps. They descended into a pitch blackness that was so thick, it almost seemed corporeal.

"So, we're not going down there are we?" Conner asked.

"Secret" the voice whispered up from the shadows before them.

"I believe that should answer your question," Cassy said. She then took a breath for bravery before she began her decent down. There was no banister, and it was difficult to keep her balance. "Be care coming down, Kon."

"Got it." Conner made sure to be slow in following Cass. He didn't want her to feel rushed and end up slipping or losing her footing because she went down too fast.

"Are you here?" Cassy called when she came close to the bottom.

"Secret." The voice was in the same room as her. Cassy tried to focus her gaze to see in the dark. As soon as her foot hit the floor, it was as if someone flipped on the switch. It startled her to the point that she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Gah! Cass, warn me if you're going to stop, I almost stepped on you." Conner cried out behind her.

"Sorry. The lights just startled me," Cassy admitted.

"What lights?" Cassy turned to look behind herself to see Conner looking around blind.

"Conner, can you really not see anything at all?" Cassy asked him.

"Besides you? Nothing," Conner replied.

"Tell me when that changes." Cassy moved out of his way after she spoke. She kept her eyes on him as he made it down the last few steps. She saw instantly when he could see the lights. As soon as his foot hit the floor, Conner slammed his eyes shut and moved his hand to shield them.

"Okay, that's bright," He muttered.

"I think it's enchanted," Cassy explained. She moved to look up the stairs behind them and saw that the room just outside of the door was just straight darkness, much like it was looking down the stairs. It was as if they chased the shadows behind them as they made their way forward. "I think, I think this is demonic magics."

"Demonic? Shit, we should go before it's too late." Conner went to grab her hand but she stepped away to avoid it.

"Hello, looking for a half-demon here," She reminded him.

"Oh, yeah." Conner gave a small smile and shrug. "Knee-jerk reaction."

"We should get back to looking for 'Secret'," Cassy said as she turned back to the room. Just as she opened her mouth to ask another question, she saw something that made her freeze. "Whelp, I think I found her."

"Where?" Conner asked.

"Secret." Conner hadn't had a chance to look from Cassy to follow her gaze, but the moment the voice called, he felt his eyes go wide and he nearly lost his lunch on the floor.

Pinned to the cement wall with knives and chains was a young looking girl, her eyes white and unseeing. She was wearing a white bath robe over a flowy gray shirt and a pair of white pajama pants. Her hair and skin were completely devoid of any pigmentation save for her lips that were a deep, DEEP blue. Not even in the sense that she was wearing make-up, it looked more like poison had stretched angrily through her blood veins, stopping just under her nose and above her chin. The knives had been stabbed through her hands, bare feet, and another right through her heart. The thick chains, identical to the ones they broke off the door, where crisscross about her body, holding her tightly against the wall and attached to seemingly random points along the ceiling, wall, and floor. Dried blood had stained her skin and cloths red where the knives cut into her.

Cassy felt she was about to cry. Her eyes were welling up. Conner couldn't stand any longer and had already fallen to his knees. The two were at a loss of what to do. It was obvious that what ever had happened here was deeply entrenched in demonic magic.

"Oh God, who'd do such a thing?" Cassy asked in a small voice.

"Secret." Those blue lips had barely moved, but to see them move at all just added another level of disturbing to the whole thing.

"We need to get her down," Cassy decided.

"Wait, what if the is the only thing keeping her alive?" Conner asked. They were back to ignoring the 'secrets'.

"What kind of life is this Conner? We need to get her down!" Cassy decided there and then. She walked up to the poor girl and firmly grasped the handle of the knife in 'Secret's chest. Taking a deep breath, Cassy yanked the steel blade from the girl. She expected a scream, a cry, a groan, but nothing came. The girl was completely silent save for her 'secret'.

Conner finally steeled himself over and went to help Cassy. The two worked together to get the last four knives out before Cassy held 'Secret' at the waist and Conner detached the chains. The girl fell limply into Cassy's arms and the two dragged her back from the wall. Cassy laid 'Secret' on the floor and started to check her vitals.

"There's nothing. I don't hear a heartbeat, lung movement, inter-organ function, nothing." Conner was shaking his head as he informed his almost girlfriend of what she just found out on her own anyway.

"Maybe she's completely dead now," Cassy suggested.

"One way to find out," Conner reminded her.

Cassy nodded and took a breath, "Are you still with us?" She asked

"Secret." Both angels jumped back, having each expected it not to work anymore.

"We need to get her to Diana," Conner said. Cassy sat there with her eyes wide and nodded numbly.

They took a second to calm themselves before Conner picked 'Secret' up gently and carried her up the stairs. They made it to the hallway above when Conner froze. The larger angel stopped right in front of the door way, almost causing Cassy to lose her balance and fall back down the stairs.

"Yes, Conner, the light shifted again. Very surprising, please move."

"Her heart's beating," Conner replied softly.

"What?" Cassy pushed past him and put her hand to 'Secret's neck. It was soft, it was slow, but there was a pulse there that wasn't before.

"What does this mean?" She asked.

"I don't know. Let's get her somewhere safe and see-"

"Wait," Cassy cut him off.

"What?" He asked. She held up a hand and waited a moment in silence before making a pointed look to Conner.

"She stopped saying 'secret'." Cassy's voice was barely a breath now. They had a little bit of money, they could go rent a room at a motel nearby. They needed to get 'Secret' out of that building. NOW.

* * *

It had taken him only a little bit longer than he had thought it would, but he found her. Finally he found his little girl after all these years. Lillian died without telling anyone who the girl's father was, and it wasn't until his daughter was already lost in foster care did he even find out he _had_ a daughter.

He had failed his first two children, both his sons were dead from his own carelessness. Now, however, he can keep that from happening. He can personally see to it that he never loses another loved one again. No more 'good byes', no more choosing between a family or the job.

He had found her finally, after all these years, and he was _never_ going lose his Little Rose ever again.

* * *

 **A/N:** If you are confused as hell, chances are you have not read **_Forgot Not Forgotten_** , and chances are you have and you're trying to figure out what is going on in this lovely little brain of mine. I will give you one hint, I am some what sticking to DC cannon with character personalities and relations, but I am also going to slowly diverge from the story lines in a bit. For now, things should be pretty predictable.

Later

~K R&R


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry to make you guys wait for this one. Trying to work well ahead of editing and posting, but not so far ahead that I'm not on page with you guys when you leave reviews. Well, for those that do leave reviews. Those that were with me on Forgot Not Forgotten would remember my recaps, but I'm going to keep them short. Mainly because while things are already happening, it's mostly just character reintroduction/introductions. How ever, there might be those of you who already forgot somethings that happened in Forgot Not Forgotten that set up some things here. So How about a ReCap?

 **Previously in Forgot Not Forgotten:**

Slade murdered O'Connal, Barbara and Wally find his body and make an anonymous call to the cops. (Chp. 21-20)

Bruce agreed to take James' memories for his crimes against his family instead of anything worse as a favor to Barbara. (Chp. 25-24 : The End - Epilog)

That should be it from the previous story. :)

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Two:

Dick was rushing out of his car toward the bar. There were cops everywhere, which wasn't unusual considering it was a 'cop bar'. What was unusual was the flashing lights and misparked cruisers about the front entrance and Sandy, Cory, and Josh standing around talking to officers.

"Dick!" Sandy cried out as soon as she saw him. She looked every bit as frantic as she sounded on the phone that morning.

"Sandy, what's going on?" Dick asked.

"I came to work about the same time as a batch of officers showed up. They had an anonymous tip about a dead body and at first they thought I called it in but I was just lost trying to figure out how a dead body could show up in the middle of Hogan's Alley, and they had me open the door cause I had a key and it made it easier than breaking it down and-"

"Sandra! Take a breath!" Dick reminded the woman. Sandy took a deep shaky breath and slowly let it go. Dick could already feel some tension leave her shoulders. "Okay, where's O'Connal? Have you called him yet?"

As soon as the question left his lips Dick anticipated Sandy giving him a dumb look and calling him a moron. ' _Of course I called Conny. You think I'd call you first, Dick-Weed?'_ But instead, Sandy broke down into a fresh sob and renewed tears, pulling herself up to Dick's shoulder to cry. Dick let her and put and arm around her shaking back while sending a look to Josh to collect his girlfriend.

When Josh walked over to remove Sandra, Officer Carl walked over to take Dick's statement. It wasn't much to go on. All Dick could say was that he worked with Conny just the day before last. Dick felt light headed and like his stomach had just been turned to stone at the same time. This was the first time since he had been turned human that he genuinely felt loss. Sure it hurt when he was a demon to lose someone he cared about, but this feeling, it was so much more potent. Dick almost wondered if this is what 'dark-eye' felt like for humans. Officer Carl gave Dick an understanding look and wrapped a steady arm around his shoulders.

"I know, Dick, we all loved him. Nothing is going to be the same now," Carl's voice seemed to crack through Dick's trance.

"What do you do, to stop feeling like this?" Dick asked.

Officer Carl took a shaky breath, "Me? I find the next case and try to move on."

"Does it work?"

Carl hesitated before answering. "Sometimes. Sometimes, not so much."

Dick felt as the officer led him to a cop car, opened the back door and sat him in the car seat before grabbing a shock blanket. Dick once heard the cops go on about how they learned to recognize shock in a witness or grieving loved one. Apparently Dick's internal crisis was visibly written all over his face.

"Sometimes, Dick, the best way to get over it is to make damn certain that the son of a bitch responsible faces justice," Carl's voice was deep with a desire for vengeance. Dick looked up at him and pulled the blanket closer to himself. The cop had dark eyes indeed, but they spoke of anger, not despair.

"Think I could help?" Dick asked.

* * *

Bruce walked through the hospital, flowers in one hand and a small wrapped gift in the other. The nurses were more than willing to help him find the room he was looking for despite the fact he knew exactly where he was going. He had a persona to play, however, and was 'more than grateful' for the assistance. Soon enough he found himself in front of the room in question. Moving the gift to the hand holding the flowers, Bruce gave a gentle knock.

It took a moment before Jim slowly opened the door. The man looked haggard and worn out. He mostly looked at wits-end when it came to his son. "Bruce. I am so sorry about this." The ex-commissioner started.

"Say nothing of it, Old Friend," Bruce cut him off. "It's not like I don't have other cars, I'm more worried about the damage James did to himself."

Jim let Bruce in, closing the door behind the billionaire. "It seems every time James ends up in the hospital anymore, some rich guy is making a visit. Personally I'm happy that this time it's you, though I wish under better circumstances." Jim went back to his seat and tucked his face in his hands.

Bruce silently placed the gift and flowers on the side table next to James' bed. The boy was hooked up to multiple machines and an I.V. bag. Everything indicated that the sleeping boy was perfectly healthy, as it should. The only reason James was taking so long to wake up was because his brain was trying to register what is missing and how to make up for it. Considering the fact that all Bruce had taken were his memories, James should be up and running by the end of the day.

The boy would be fine, much to Bruce's chagrin. His father on the other hand was a wreck, and considering all that the two men had been together –some the Commissioner knew about and some he didn't – he knew he needed to be here for the man. Looking to Jim now, Bruce saw him eyeing the flowers in the glass vase Bruce had brought.

"My son steals your Ferrari and crashes it into the side of the Gotham bridge," Jim said in a disbelieving tone shaking his head, "and you bring flowers."

"As I said, I have others." Bruce sat down next to Jim. "Tim, Dick, and Jason each have done similar if not the same. I've long ago learned the value of a car verses the value of a child walking away from their own stupidity."

"You really are a good friend, Bruce. Shame we haven't kept in touch, isn't it?" Jim asked.

"Yes, well, I had never raised a child from so young before, I felt the need to focus entirely on Damian as much as I could, especially after his mother-" Bruce stopped himself. He honestly had no idea how to finish his sentence without reveling too much about Talia Al Ghul.

"I understand, Bruce. I understand." Jim sighed and nodded. The two of them then fell into a comfortable silence as Bruce gave his quiet support to one of his few claimed humans. He may not care for Jim's son, but Jim and his daughter – Barbara, they he could see as family.

* * *

Motels in Gotham were gross. Conner decided this as soon as he and Cassy entered the room they had booked for the night. It wasn't just the stench, or the lack of cleaning service, it was also how the man behind the counted looked at Conner holding a girl passed out and bleeding, shrugged, and told them not to bother the other tenants before handing them the key and going back to his facebooking.

The two angels knew exactly how it looked, and they were more than prepared to lie out of their asses to try and get out of what ever situation they ended up in. But to have that little concern for a fellow human? They both agreed that after they took care of 'Secret' and found the half-demon Clark sent them to find, they were never coming back to Gotham. Ever.

Conner set the girl on the bed and Cassy moved to the bathroom to wet down a towel to clean her up with. 'Secret's vitals were getting better by the minute. She was breathing properly, her heartbeat was steady, and her wounds were actually healing themselves. Whatever had happened to her, it was definitely demonic. They could tell she herself was not a demon, not even part. Something about her wasn't exactly human either, but they knew she wasn't the one they were looking for.

"We'll have to buy her some clothes when she wakes up," Cassy said as she made her way back into the room with the clean towels. She started to wipe down 'Secret's face, her lips were no longer blue thankfully, and tired to clean around her pajamas where she needed to.

"We also need to get a hold of Diana and tell her what we saw," Conner reminded her.

"Later." Cassy sighed and sat on the bed next to 'Secret', leaning her back on the head-board. "We should call a pizza and eat something."

"Sounds like an idea, she sounds like she'll wake up in a few minutes anyways," Conner agreed. "What are we going to do afterwards?"

"Afterwards?"

"Yeah, I mean, we can't keep her, can we?" Conner pointed out. "She doesn't look older than twelve, and that's being generous. I doubt she even exists paperwork-wise to the humans, and from what we've seen, chances are her family might not be a good bet either."

"Alright. I'll call Diana after I call for pizza," Cassy relented. "What do you want?"

Fifteen minutes, a pizza delivery, and a call to the Woman Angel of Wonder herself, Conner and Cassy had a plan. Apparently somewhere in San Francisco, there is a tower that a few angels used to use as a sanctuary. It was pretty much abandoned now and Diana suggested bringing their new friend there until they could find a better arrangement. She also suggested that the building also be used as a meet up for the team that was going to be training together. When asked about more information on the 'half-demon' Clark was wanting them to recruit, Diana was surprised and promised to talk to Kal about it for them. After that, the two pretty much sat around and waited for 'Secret' to wake up.

They didn't have to wait long, the pizza was even still warm, before the girl's head started to adjust in the pillows and her eyes fluttered open. Conner and Cassy were at her side instantly, though trying not to crowd her.

"Where?" The girl's voice was hoarse, and actually sounded nothing like the voice that use to chant 'secret's to people's questions.

"We found you strung up in a basement. Got you out of there as fast as we could," Conner tired to explain.

"Where?" The girl repeated, her eyes sweeping across the room before looking at the two teen angel's at her side.

"A cheap motel in Gotham," Cassy answered. "Do you know what happened to you?"

"I don't, I mean, I was with my brother." 'Secret' moved to sit up and Cassy helped her lean against the head-board.

"What's your name?" Conner asked.

"G-Greta. My name is Greta," the girl replied. She moved her knees to her chest and hugged her legs. "My, my brother-"

"We didn't see anyone else. The building was abandoned." Cassy placed a hand on Greta's shoulder as she spoke.

"He did it." Greta's voice was low, the rasp making it seem darker. "He did that to me."

"What? Why would he do such a thing?" Conner asked with wide eyes.

"'To be whole', he said. That's all he said. Every time I asked why he'd just reply, 'it's a secret' and then there was pain." Greta's eyes were welling up with tears and she ducked her head in her knees.

"Greta, do you know what year it is?" Cassy quizzed the girl. Greta didn't even bother trying to guess, she just shook her head without looking up. "Do you have any family that can take you in?" Same response.

"We have a place you can stay for a while if you need," Conner started the offer, Greta looked up at that. She already had tear stains down her cheeks and her eyes were red. "It's all the way in San Francisco though, you might never see Gotham again."

"Sold." Greta's voice was soft, but she seemed certain.

"Alright then. Before we go though, we still need to find the half-demon we were sent to talk to," Cassy explained.

"Half-demon?" Greta looked confused.

Conner and Cassy shared a look before Conner shrugged, "Might as well bring her up to speed."

"Bring me, what?"

"Greta, there's a lot we need to tell you if you're going to come with us, and most of it will be pretty hard to believe," Cassy started.

"And if it gets really hard to believe, remember you were pinned to a wall and preserved by demonic magic for who knows how long." Conner was kind enough to finish for Cassy.

Greta blinked a couple of times before settling herself more comfortably for what seemed like would be a long talk.

* * *

Dick still hadn't called, but it was already past noon and Tim figured what ever happened, Dick was obvious busy. So Tim found himself having spent the better part of the day just hanging out with Wally and Barbara, which was both extremely weird, but kind of nice.

Wally and Tim came to an understanding that where their human personas were concerned, Wally was an adult and Tim was a teenager. However when it came to anything demonic, Tim was a Night demon and Wally would listen to him as the higher class he was. The two eventually were able to find a good balance to it as they sat in the living room prattling on about facts and details pertaining to demon sciences and how somethings really just don't make sense.

Barbara found herself learning that an 'informant' demon and a 'scientist' demon in the same room made for invigorating conversation that went _way_ above her head. Instead she mostly stuck to making tea, sandwiches, and snuggling next to Dick's little brother while she claimed the TV. She also learned that Tim liked to be touched; an arm around his shoulder, her head resting against his, ect. Small affectionate things like that. The boy didn't make any mention, but it surprised her just how much tension a simple half hug banished from the small body next to her.

After a few hours of just this, Wally received a text from his uncle and he and Tim went to go meet Wally's second cousin. Barbara had to tell Tim repeatedly not to bother with cleaning up, she had it. Eventually she ended up having to usher the two out the door. It was only now that she found her phone and realized that she forgot to turn on the ringer. Her father was trying to get a hold of her and she instantly remembered Bruce was going to set something up to explain James' memory loss. After that, she went to go spend the rest of the day in the hospital.

* * *

Wally and Tim decided to take Wally's car, which probably hadn't been used in forever and a decade with the sounds it was making. After the first few times they had to pull over to the side Wally sighed and muttered a few things about what he needed to fix. Tim asked a few questions, curious about the vehicle's internal workings. Thankfully, the back and forth between Tim's questions and Wally's explanations helped make the long trip go by a little bit faster. Finally they were outside of Wally's Uncle Barry's house and exiting the trash heap of a car.

"So you're not just dropping me off, are you?" Tim asked. He was admittedly nervous. It's been a long time since he went out of his way to make a friend.

"What? Of course not. This is my first time getting to actually spend time with Bart." Wally pulled a bag out of the trunk as he spoke before walking with Tim to the door.

The two only just had time to step up to the door before it swung open and Wally was being dragged in by his collar. Everything instantly started to move at the speed of 'ridiculous' and Tim suddenly found that there was not a single possibility of him understanding any of it until someone felt kind enough to bring the little robin in the loop. Stepping inside, Tim watched as a blond demon was shaking Wally by the scruff of his shirt saying something so fast it sounded high-pitched, Wally looked almost as lost as Tim was, and the entire inside of the humble home was trashed.

"Um. Hello?" Tim interrupted -who he supposed was – 'Uncle Barry's rant.

The man in question paused what he was doing and looked over to Tim. He then looked back to Wally worried. "Wals, when you said you brought a friend's younger brother to help make Bart friends- ?"

"Um, yeah, he's, uh, Nightwing's younger brother, Red Robin?" Wally scratched the back of his head. Tim could feel the tension instantly suffocate the room.

"I can go if it's too much trouble," Tim offered, trying to hide how offended and hurt he was by the elder speedster's reaction.

Barry seemed to realize the offense he had made and dropped Wally in favor of raising his hands defensively. "Not at all. You are perfectly welcome into our home. Uh, Red Robin."

"You can call me Tim, we're not really dealing with anything demonic right now," Tim offered. Barry seemed extremely uncomfortable with that. "Or just Red."

"Um, yes, well, I suppose I should introduce my grandson," Barry scratched the back of his head. Wally straightened his clothes and went to stand next to Tim while Barry went down the hall to retrieve the young bolt.

"Sorry about him. He's met your father a couple times in the past," Wally started to explain.

"Don't worry about it. I get it. I suppose we should have realized that it would be hard for your family to see me visiting as teenage Tim Drake instead of Night Demon Red Robin," Tim sighed. He was determined to stick with the arrangement, however, he still had a debt to repay to Wally.

Before Wally could say anything else, there was a blur of white and suddenly there was a boy just a bit shorter than Tim standing right in front of the robin. Like, _right_ in front. Their toes were practically touching and Tim was resisting the urge to step back to create a bit of space between them.

" .AreyoureallyheretobemyfriendcausethatwouldbereallycoolsinceI' .Nowthey'redeadsoIhaven' 'dnevermakeafriend!"

"Bart! Take a breath! Even I didn't understand that," Wally chided his cousin. Bart paused his speech and gave a sheepish smile. Tim knew he had to have a bewildered look on his face when Bart turned back to him.

"Sorry, I still need to remind myself to speak slowly," Bart said in words Tim could actually hear.

"Uh, no problem." Tim shook his head a bit and offered his hand. "I'm Tim Drake."

"Yeah, I know. And you know I'm Bart Allen. Now let's go play! I have like a million games that need two players and while I can play both myself it's not as fun when I have someone to play with-"

"Bart," Tim said to get the young speedster's attention. "Breathe."

"Oh. Sorry." Bart rubbed the back of his neck and blushed a bit.

"I guess I'm following you to these games then," Tim suggested and Bart perked up immediately. The two made their way down the hall where Bart showed Tim his new room in his Uncle's home. It was a disaster zone.

Back down the hall in the living room, Barry walked up to his nephew. "How sure are you about this?" He asked.

Wally gave his uncle a smile, "His older brother is my best friend and roommate, and apparently their dad doesn't hate me all too much either. Trust me, this will be fine. You know, so long as we don't keep asking favors." He shrugged.

"And what did you offer in exchange for this favor, Wally?" Barry's tone was warning.

"Nothing. Actually, Tim is the one that insisted that he owed me a solid. I figured this would be a good way to let him pay it off without his family getting mad. After all, I think Red Robin could also really use a friend right now. See? It's perfect!" Wally smiled brightly.

"YOU CHEATED!" Bart's voice echoed loudly from down the hall.

"They wouldn't put it in the game if I wasn't allowed to use it." Tim's voice laughed back, almost as loud.

"BUT THEY DIDN'T PUT IT IN THE GAME! YOU CHEATED AND GOT IT THERE!"

"Then again, I have been proven wrong before." Wally bit his lip and looked worriedly at his Uncle Barry who was glaring daggers at him.

"You are _so_ helping with the clean up," the elder demon growled. Barry then stomped off.

Wally pouted and sat dejectedly on the couch. He was wondering if it really was a good idea before he heard two teen voices laughing in the room they were holed up in. He smiled to himself. Nah, they needed this, and it was definitely the best idea Wally ever had.

* * *

 **A/n:** So for those that don't understand why I wrote the chapters in the recap with two numbers, it's because the 'prolog - the letter' pushed everything off by a chapter number and I'm stubborn. It makes it easier to say 'Chapter 26-25' instead of just saying '25' and then everyone looking at chapter '24' by mistake. So, yeah. There's a fun fact of the day.

Side note, KiwiClover, my wonderful beta, made a comment how she was interested to see where things were going with me adding Bart and Greta, but was ultimately worried about me adding too many characters. As the reason to have a Beta is to get a preview about typos and concerns other readers will have or catch, I figured I'd let you guys know what I told her, if only a part of it. While Greta will have her part to play and a bit of meat to her story, she is mainly setting up a story arch for a few characters in the 'Bat-clan'. I won't say what, but don't worry too much about the character list getting too crowded. That's why I am segmenting this into it's own story instead of just adding it to FNF. Same will go for the story to come after this one. (yes, there will be a third). Don't forget we met Cissie King-Jones in FNF the same chapter we met our angels. ;)

That's enough rambling for now,...

Later

~K


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** So Kiwiclover and I have agreed to post every other Tuesday. She's pretty busy with life and the extra week helps her get caught up with her beta duties. Also I have hit a snag in plotting out chapter five, . . . I have no idea what I'm doing at this point. I know where I'm going, but chapter five is just so frustrating, cause, let's face it, everyone is freaking everywhere. They are so spread out and the story is in a lull space where it's not really that interesting, but there's some important information I need to give before I continue, . . . or at least, that's how it is after Chapter four, . . . it's not much of a spoiler so I don't feel bad, but point is, I'm trying to regroup and get some of these loose ends weaved together.

You see, the issue with how I chose to write this is, while it gets the full story out there, it's kind confusing after a while. I'm always up for a challenge, don't get me wrong. However, it does get tiring fast. This is also probably why it took so long for me to finish Forgot Not Forgotten. As far as I see it, all the characters are each a piece of thread and if I weave ahead without any one of them, the whole textile of the story looks , . . . wrong. Does that make sense? No? Oh well, all you really need to understand from this is that I will be posting every other week instead of each week like most writers tend to do.

 **Previously in Half Truths:**

Bruce went to visit James and Jim in the hospital. Tim agreed to hang out with Wally's cousin, Bart.

(Not much else is relevant to this chapter, . . .)

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Chapter Three:

When Tim first walked into Bart's room, he felt so out of place. He was trying to fake it though, for Bart's sake, but his insides kept reminding him that he had no clue what he was even doing. Where should he sit, what should he say, of the mess in the room- what was okay for him to shove out of his way? Thankfully, Bart seemed to anticipate most of Tim's worries and had a decent sized spot in front of the tv for the boys to sit on the floor.

Tim didn't expect to actually have fun, or actually feel it when he laughed, but the moment they started to play one of Tim's favorite games, he couldn't help himself. It was second nature for him to take advantage of the glitch in the game and banter back at Bart when the bolt called him out for it. Before he knew it, the two decided to do a campaign run so they could show each other the neat tricks and tid-bits that they found during their solo plays.

After about an hour, a nice lady came in and dropped off an offering of snacks and drinks. Tim was confused at her presents. She was human. Bart had to explain to him that 'Aunt Iris' was Barry's wife, but she wasn't a demon like the others, though Barry did have a ritual that helped her keep her youth. Tim wondered for a moment if Bruce ever offered to do such a ritual for Selina. He knew his father had asked her multiple times to be his alpha-female, but Selina wasn't willing to give up her humanity. But free youth? She couldn't have turned that down.

After putting 'youth ritual' in a mental file to be looked at later, Tim was about to get back into the game when Bart spoke again.

"I wasn't going to ask – Mom said it's a rude topic to bring up," He started, "but it's kinda nagging at me-,"

"What is Bart?" Tim asked. He was starting to understand what Wally had meant when he said Bart had been socially isolated. The bolt didn't really know what was proper or not. Still there were quite a few things that he could be wanting to ask Tim about that he thinks is inappropriate or is actually highly inappropriate. He readied himself for what ever Bart had to bring up.

"Why are your eyes so dark?" And Tim felt steam-rolled yet again by the mention of his eyes. He kept forgetting about them. However, as dark as they were, he wasn't feeling all that down at the moment. So Tim shrugged and tried to explain it best he could.

"You know what 'dark-eye' is?" He asked.

"No, is it contagious?" Bart asked looked worried. Okay, not the answer Tim was expecting.

"Uh, no. You can't get 'dark-eye' from being around someone who has it," Tim replied. Bart visibly relaxed before he tensed up again.

"Is it fatal?" Tim honestly didn't know how to answer that one, cause _'yes'_ it's _very_ fatal. Yet despite Tim's eyes already having gone pitch, here he was still breathing and able to smile with a new friend.

"I, uh, to most demons it is," is what Tim settled on.

"Are you going to die?" Bart was now very clearly upset.

"Apparently not," Tim muttered, remembering the night before. He shouldn't be alive right now. By every logic, his body should have shut down and withered. A small voice in the back of his head told him it had to do with that angel and what it said about Tim.

"Oh, good, cause I'd hate to lose my best friend." Bart smiled wide and his smile only grew at Tim's shocked expression.

"Best friend, hu?" Tim asked. Bart wiggled his eye brows in a stupid way that made Tim giggle and shove him away. "We'll see if I'm still your best friend after I kick your butt this next round!" He challenged and started up a new game on the tv.

Bart easily went for the distraction and Tim played while his thoughts where on what this meant. Bart didn't know what 'dark-eye' was. His laughs and smiles and encouragement; none of it was out of pity or sympathy. Bart also had a very poor grasp on 'demonic' classes. He didn't understand that in the Dark World hierarchy, Tim was like duke while Bart was more of a goat herder or something. He just knew that he and Tim shared a sense of humor, liked the same games, and enjoyed a cool drink of Zetsi to help wash down the defeat from losing to the other. To Bart, he wasn't Red Robin, he was just Tim.

And suddenly the world looked a small shade lighter for it.

* * *

Barbara walked into the hospital the same time Bruce was just on his way out. There were a number of ways that this felt weird. One of them was that Bruce was a billionaire who, while was a good friend of her father when she was a teen, hadn't spoken a word to Jim Gordon in ten years. And old friends or not, you don't just get use to the fact that your father is tight with a guy you see on billboards in Gotham.

Another reason, and this one actually a bit more prominent in Barbara's mind than the last, was that she had seen this very man turn into a half beast that nearly ripped two men and her little brother apart just last night. The billboards don't really prepare you for seeing something like that, especially when said demon has a batch of demon children who are all extremely dangerous in their own ways. One could then argue that seeing the Dark Knight in the middle of a hospital dressed like he's never known the meaning of 'hard labor', would be quiet unsettling.

The last reason, and strangely her biggest reason for finding this weird, was that this was the man her roommate and crush had been searching for all year. This was a man who mind whipped his own child to save his son's life. This was her best friend's father. And this was about to be their first actual interaction without a huge crisis to be dealt with or the life of someone she loves on the line.

"Ms. Gordon," Bruce freaking Wayne greeted with a polite smile. "I was just visiting with your father."

"I can see that," Barbara nodded, "So, James will be fine, right?"

Bruce's jaw clinched but he forced himself to relax. "I'm not going to waste the time to put up a front for you, Ms. Gordon. You're father, yes, but I will not insult you like that. I have no love nor care for your younger brother, but he will be perfectly healthy."

"Thank you. Mr. Wayne." Barbara figured that Bruce didn't exactly want to be called 'Dark Knight' in the middle of a hospital.

"Please, call me Bruce," the said billionaire smiled at her. "Barbara, while I don't care for your younger brother, your father has always come through for my family when we have called on him to. Jim has also proven to be an invaluable asset to my mission for nearly thirty years and I could not have been nearly as efficient without his help."

Barbara did her best to quell the swell of pride that was threatening to bubble over at the high praise the 'Batman' was giving her father. After all those years hearing her father rant on about the good the demonic vigilante did for Gotham, it was nice to know that her father's respect for the demon was requited. Then she realized that Bruce wasn't done talking yet.

"It is something that I also see in you, Ms. Gordon." Bruce looked Barbara in the eye as he spoke. "You were there for my family, for Dick, when we truly were at our most vulnerable. Without being asked to do anything, you still protected my son, defended my family, and stood by us in battle with not a moment's hesitation. For this, I am, -"

Bruce trailed off as if the words were too fragile for him to dare touch. Barbara could see that it was very difficult for Bruce to finish his 'thank you'. The Dark Knight was probably use to having to do everything by himself and most likely rarely ever found himself in a place to express gratitude. Considering what he did for her family in turn, Babs figured she could let it slide this one time.

"It's okay, Bruce," She said, smiling, "Me too."

Bruce gave her a small shadow of a smile, that some how seemed more genuine than any expression she had ever seen on his face – save for maybe the pure rage last night when Dick was in danger. The two then parted ways, Bruce on to where was off to and Barbara to her brother's hospital room. Just before they were out of ear shot of each other, though, Bruce called out on last thing.

"Before I forget, don't hate me for the gift I left your father. It only seemed right he have it." Barbara turned around to give him a questioning look but he was already gone.

Wondering what Bruce could have possibly deemed best in her father's hands, she quickly made her way to the room her brother was staying in. Her father was in the seat next to James, looking so very tired and fed up with his son's crap. On the table next to James was a vase of flowers sporting a 'get well' card that Barbara knew wasn't truly heartfelt. Beside the flowers was a small, wrapped gift. The wrapping was a shiny black paper that looked professionally folded so there wasn't a single piece of tape showing and had a thin silver string neatly tied into a bow around it.

Her dad looked up to see who had been standing in the door way, and before she knew it, Barbara was being enveloped in a strong hug. "Oh, Barbara, thank God you're safe."

"Hey Dad, sorry I didn't check my phone until about a minute ago. Long night," Babara wasn't lying, but she still felt bad for not telling her dad the truth.

"You're here now. Thank God, you're here now." Jim slowly let his daughter slide from his grip.

"If you keep saying that, God's going to get a complex," Barbara joked. Her dad let himself a quick smile before sighing and sitting back down again. "So I saw Bruce as he was leaving," Barbara said, making small talk.

"Bruce, hu? Since when were you on first name basis with a billionaire?" Jim asked.

"Hu? Oh, uh," Barbara turned to the side table with the gifts before coming up with something to tell her father, fast. "We just found out a couple days ago that he's Dick's dad. There's a lot of personal details I don't think they'd want me sharing right now, but ultimately he was grateful for Wally and my looking out for his son." It was about a truthful as she was going to be able to be.

"Really? Dick is the same 'Grayson' boy that Bruce adopted? I guess that makes sense. Boy, I only ever met one of his sons and it was so long ago I didn't even recognized the boy all grown up!" Her dad gave a short laugh. This, this was new information to Barbara.

"What, you met Dick before?" She asked.

"Oh, now I suppose so. Once a long, long time ago. Geez, Babs, you were just starting Junior High at the time. Kid was eight years old and lived in the circus. Some local gang decided to try and squeeze the troupe for 'protection' money. When the ring master refused to pay up, his star act was, well, uh. I only spoke to the youngest Grayson for about five minutes when he was still shaken up and having trouble comprehending what just happened. Bruce offered to take the kid in and that was the only time I ever met one of his boys. Heck, I think that might have been the last time I ever saw Bruce outside of a charity event." Barbara's father couldn't know what he just told his daughter. Bruce wasn't Dick's biological father. She figured the last name difference was because of demon culture. But if Bruce wasn't Dick's dad, and his real parents were murdered before the Dark Knight took him in.

Barbara had to force herself to slow down. She didn't have all the information yet. She couldn't just jump to conclusions or she'll end up making a fool of herself again like she did with the salt last week. Maybe Dick could just explain it to her now that he has his memories back. With that in mind, Barbara calmed herself down and looked at the gift. She nearly forgot the mystery she was previously trying to solve.

"I see Bruce left you a gift," Barbara redirected the conversation.

"Is it for me?" her father asked.

"That's what is says on the tag." Barbara picked up the box and handed it to him.

Her father carefully took it from his daughter before he proceeded to slowly open the wrapping. He popped open the small lid to the flimsy white gift box beneath and pulled out a beautifully designed looking bottle with some sort of viscous, black liquid inside. With in the liquid was a thin vein of red that could somehow be faintly seen despite being surrounded by what looked like runny tar. It was very pretty, with how the red looked almost like smoke in a dark night. It took a moment for Barbara to realize was it was; James' memories. She figured Bruce would hid the vial, destroy it, something, but she never thought that he would give it to the family. She didn't realize just how much he really trusted her and her father until this moment.

"Well, leave it to the rich, right? I don't even know what to do with it," Jim gave a small laugh. He was probably thinking it was some expensive decoration piece, and for all intents and purposes, that's kind of exactly what it was. Barbara smiled at the gift. Time to lie out of her ass.

"Don't you know what that is?" Barbara asked, sitting next to her father. When the older man shook his head slightly she started to spin her yarn. "It's Greek mythology. Back then, they would set bottles like these near loved ones who were comatose or were suffering brain damage. They believed that the more of these bottles that a coma patient had near them, the more thoughts that were being spared to the patient's recovery, and the faster they'd heal." Barbara was pretty proud of her bull-shittery, it certainly made her dad smile a bit more real.

"I guess this was pretty thoughtful of Bruce then, hu?" He asked before placing the vial next to his son's bed. "I'll have to send him a 'thank you' card or something."

Barbara held back her chuckle in favor of just grinning and leaning against her head on her dad's shoulder. Her father in turn wrapped his arm around her shoulders and the two just sat like that while watching over their family moron.

* * *

Dick walked into the police department behind Officer Carl as the older man lead him to the desk of one 'Corbin Nachman', a rail of a man with large, thick glasses that made his face look like it was 15% eye balls. He was wearing a uniform, but it didn't look like he had ever been in the field a day in his life.

"Can I help you?" He asked looking up momentarily before going back to his computer. Dick didn't actually think people could be so purely monotone.

"Hey, Nach, this is Dick. He's considering becoming a police officer. Help him out, won't you?" Carl spoke as he motioned for Dick to sit down.

"Alright then. Name please." The man was already typing out something as he waited for Dick to answer.

"Uh, Dick Grayson."

"Legal name?" The man raised a brow at him.

"Oh, um, Richard John Grayson," Dick amended. Nach started typing nodding to himself as he went.

"Alright then, Mr. Grayson. How old are you and will be by the end the next six months?" Nach asked.

"Uh, 28." Dick did the math really quickly in his head. "And then still 28."

"Do you have a bachelor's degree or at least of 90 credits with intention to complete your bachelor's degree before you take the written examination for becoming a police officer?" Dick felt his stomach drop a little.

"I, uh, n-no, I, uh, don't," Dick bit his lip as Nach looked over to him and frowned.

"Any military experience?"

"No." Dick slowly sunk into himself.

"Associates degree?"

"No, n-no college, actually." Dick blushed a bit.

"I'm sorry Mr. Grayson, we can not go any further." Officer Nachman clicked a few times on his computer and then folded his hands together.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time." Dick stood up and dejectedly made his way back out.

"Dick, hey, that was quick, how'd it go." Officer Carl asked.

"Maybe I should have mentioned before I never went to college?" Dick gave Carl a small smile.

Carl looked confused for a moment before he seemed to understand. "Oh, Dick, I'm sorry, son."

"It- it's okay," Dick lied, "It's not the only thing I wanted to do with my life." Yes it was.

"Well, if you say so. Come on, I'll take you home." Dick followed Officer Carl to the police cruiser silently.

"You know, Dick, I have a cousin in Kansas, lives in Wichita, didn't really make it past two years in college. Wanna know what he does for a living?" Carl spoke as he drove, probably trying to cheer Dick up. When Dick shrugged Carl kept talking. "He's a Private Investigator, some times he even gets employed by the government for some jobs, some times it's just a paranoid spouse."

Dick's ear's twitched at that. It there was any work that he and his family were made for in the human world, it'd be P.I.'s. He looked over to Carl, the man smiled when he caught the interest gleaming in the the younger man's eye.

"You'd have to go to college, but it's a lot less then what you need to be a cop. You'd also have to registered and licensed, not to mention the amount of training you'd be expected to go through," Carl kept talking, and each thing he said was another item added to Dick's mental check list. He could totally do a couple years at a local college, and he could easily ask Bruce for help getting through the registration process if it became too difficult.

"I'd like that," Dick decided with a smile. Carl gave him a nod and parked in front of Dick's apartment. "Thanks, Carl, I owe, for your help with this, for the attention you're giving Conny's case, everything."

"Don't mention it, Dick. Least I can do for all those under charged drinks." Carl winked at him before driving off. Dick was confused for a moment, he never undercharged anyone for those drinks, . . . did he?

* * *

He didn't know anything. Right now all he could think about was how little he knew. He didn't know who was president. He didn't know what was and was not considered legal anymore. He did not know what became of his only child. He didn't know anything. But he was as sure as the pit was going to find out. It was in his nature after all. And when he found his son, he was going to fix his every mistake before it was too late. That was, of course, if it wasn't too late.

* * *

 **A/N:** So, that last paragraph is pretty cryptic. If you know your comics, you should know who it is, but if not, then the suspense must be killing you, hu? So Kiwi pointed out to me that the qualifications I put in for becoming a police officer doesn't really sound, well, sound. The thing is I looked it up online, specifically requirements for a New Jersey Police officer as that is where Bludhaven is. I live in Kansas. Thus a new layer of difficulty. Now I could easily have fudged some BS up and put it in there, or even went with it and had Dick and Bruce work together to get past it. But the more I thought about it, I kinda liked the idea of Dick being a PI more than a cop. I told you guys I was going to try and get a bit of cannon divergence in this.

Last thing; I'm also plotting out and might start writing on another story that goes with this. It's called 'Down, Not Out'. It pretty much follows what Jason and his friends are doing during all of this Tim and the Titans stuff. Those that wanted more Jay and Tim brother bonding moments, I'm sorry it's going to be a bit lacking. There will be a minimum of two moments already planned, but not nearly as mushed together as the first one. All the plot lines. You know how it is. Either way, I'm kicking around the idea of posting DNO at the same time as I update Half Truths. If I do, I'll need another beta so I'm not over loading poor KiwiClover. She's already doing so much for me, it wouldn't be fair. Either way, I've rambled enough, . . .

Later

~K R&R


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** This is pretty much unbeta'd, I'll put up a revised version when KiwiClover gets the chance. Either way I'm going to just dive into this cause I have been working on my own story, like an original, and I'm not even halfway on chapter six yet.

 **Previously in Half Truths:**

Tim was hanging with Bart, Barbara went to the hospital to visit her brother and father, and Cassy and Conner agreed to explain quite a bit to Greta who had previously woken up.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Four:

"So," Greta looked that the two angels in front of her with a guarded look as she spoke, "You're an angel-" here she pointed at Cassy - "and you're a half-angel-" her finger moved to point at Conner- "and you're both on a holy mission to gather extraordinary teenagers for your 'Justice Team' or something?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it. Except, trade out the word 'holy' with 'bull-honky' but same idea," Conner smirked.

"What, you don't want a 'Justice Team'?" Greta asked with a similar smirk.

"I'm all for bringing a group of teenagers together and working as a team to fight the bad guy," Conner amended, "I just have a problem calling a task given to use by a self-righteous douche 'holy'."

"As you can see, Conner has a few 'Daddy Issues'," Cassy joked as she sat on the side of the bed. Conner only stuck his tongue out at her

"Either way, you guys now have to go find a half-demon boy that all you know about is that he's the son of a really strong demon?" Greta asked, finishing up her recap.

"Yep. All caught up." Cassy smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, and now it's incredibly late. If we don't want to have to answer a lot of questions then we might as well leave now." Conner stood and gather their things.

"Wait, wouldn't that raise more questions?" Greta asked.

"In Gotham?" Cassy pointed out with her own question.

Greta's expression showed when she caught on. "That is a good point."

The three teens gathered their things and started for the door when Cassy looked Greta over. "If anyone asks, say that we were at a costume party." She suggests, motioning to the blood stains. "First stop is to a Walmart so we can get you new clothes."

* * *

Barbara was on her phone scrolling through her facebook. Her father had long since fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder and was lightly snoring while he cuddled up against her side. He had a bit of a death grip on her in his sleep, as if he was subconsciously afraid of losing her too. It wasn't the first time he had expressed such fears – unconscious or awake – but it was the first time she wondered if they actually were warranted.

Before, the most dangerous thing Barbara had a habit of doing was forgetting her seat-belt until after she was already out of the driveway or eating veggies straight out of the bag with out rinsing them off first. Now she was running on roof tops with demons and fighting off evil men. It was both thrilling and frightening, and she was now seeing a new threat that accompanied her new hobbies. If anything, happened to her, it would _kill_ her father.

Barbara bit her lip and wiggled her arm from under her dad to wrap it around his shoulders. She held him as she made a silent prayer that everything would be okay. She wasn't really the type to pray, she used to honestly think that it was impossible that there was _someone_ listening to them. Now? Now she had a demon roommate, an _ex_ -demon roommate, angels are apparently real, and there was such people who both worked with or fought against demons and angels. She was about ready to open up a book of ANY religion at this point.

Just as she was contemplating the integrity of the Bible verses the Guru Grath Sahib, Barbara saw James' face scrunch up before he started to blink open his eyes. Instantly Barbara started to shake her father wake. Jim Gordon stirred a bit, blinked up at his daughter and then followed her gaze to his son's bed. Babs knew when he realized James was awake when Jim jumped up from next to her, nearly knocking her out of her seat – thanks Dad-, and was by his son's side.

"James, common Jimmy, you with me?" Jim asked his son.

James Jr. looked up at the man above him with confused eyes. Barbara took a moment to remember that James was going to have no memory. At all. She moved to his other side and knelt by the bed. James' vacant gaze slowly turned to her.

"Hey, James. It's good to see you're alive," Barbara tried to joke, but her voice was too broken, and the mirth she wanted to come out was absent. James looked back to Jim.

"Who?" He asked, his own voice was dry and groggy.

"J-James, it-it's me, your Dad. I'm your father," Jim Gordon's eyes were tearing up. "M-Maybe you just bruised a part of your brain, eh, you'll remember before too long." Jim turned to look at his daughter as if hoping for reassurance. Barbara knew he didn't see it in her face. In fact, she knew he was seeing the absolution he was wanting to avoid.

"James, I'm Barbara, your sister," Barbara reintroduced herself to her baby brother.

"Barbara?" James looked at her and Barbara noticed this had to be the first time he had ever looked at her with anything other than spite. Even when they were kids, his mother had always compared the two and by the time Barbara Senior sent James Junior to live with James Senior and Barbara Junior, James already officially hated his big sister.

"Y-yeah, you kinda, you kinda don't like me much, but we're siblings, so I'm here to annoy you with how much I care," Barbara smiled sadly.

"Why wouldn't I like you?" James asked, "You seem nice enough."

"She's your big sister, James," Jim added as a joke, "I think it was her being bossy and you being a rascal." Barbara knew it wasn't true, not completely, but at least it was partially honest. It was as if a silent agreement between the two elder Gordons. They were not going to lie to James, but like hell were they going to tell him everything.

* * *

It was hours later when Tim said good-bye to the Allens. He had gotten a call from Dick somewhere at the start of the 'play-date' apologizing furiously and promising explanations and a whole week of brother bonding time. Tim promised to hold him to that later, he had already made plans with a friend after all.

Bart and Tim decided that they were going to spend the week checking out the surface world together. Barry was extremely hesitant, but Wally was all for the idea. The two older demons talked it over and Tim tried to think of it respectfully from a human perspective instead of getting instinctively pissed off that two lesser demons dared to defy him. He wasn't Damian, after all.

When it was agreed that they could check out Central (as it was the Red Flash's territory), Bludhaven (as it was once Nightwing's territory and no other demon had claimed it since), and Gotham (with it being Dark Knight's territory and therefore Red Robin's). The two had been making plans since that moment and decided that the next day was going to be them going through Central and working their way out toward Gotham.

Tim figures that he could give Bruce a heads up as soon as he got home that night, and the thought alone had him yawning. Wally figured it was time to say good night to his uncle and cousin before herding Tim back to his car.

"Want me to take you back to Gotham or my apartment in Bludhaven?" He asked.

"Actually, I could probably head back to the caves from here," Tim wagered.

"Bit of a trip, don't you think?" Wally frowned. It was another one of those 'it's magic so don't try to understand it' things that irritated him. If they were in the same county of Gotham, then it probably wouldn't be a big deal for the robin to get home, but they were three counties away and the likely hood that Tim could get stuck some where in the nastier parts of the Dark World were pretty high. "Just, lay back your seat, catch some 'Z's, and we'll be home before you know it."

"Home?" Tim muttered with a laugh as he complied and leaned back the seat.

"Yeah, well, it seems more like a home now that Dick's family's determined to invade it every chance they get," Wally joked. Tim gave a hum, whether in agreement or to just show he was listening, Wally didn't know, and fell asleep while Wally drove through the night.

* * *

Rose woke up and stretched out on her bed. A part of her didn't want to get up, the other part wondered if Jen was making her usual 'Sunday Breakfast Special'. Rose learned to live for Jen's pancakes, especially on Sunday morning. She found out early on that Jen hates Monday's with a burning passion and did everything she could to make Sunday last a bit longer. This also meant that despite Jen and Mart being Christians, they didn't go to church, and thus, Rose wasn't expected to go either. It was great!

Rose decided she was ready for breakfast and figured if she got her chores knocked out of the way early, she could catch the bus to town and see her friends. That's right, Rose Wilson has officially been in a home and going to a school long enough to make actual friends. They were pretty cool too, well, Sarah and Marcus were, Lisa tended to be their scapegoat when they almost got caught being idiot teenagers. It was fair enough though, Lisa _never_ got in trouble, it was her super power. So that kinda made her cool too.

Rose jumped the last few stairs and inhaled. Yup, pancakes were being served alright. Happy despite the early morning, Rose walked into the kitchen and was greeted with the site of Jen playfully whacking Mart upside the head repeatedly with his morning paper. Mart was smirking like a smug man who knew what he just said to get threatened by his wife.

Rose smiled and sat in the chair next to him. "When she finally goes through with it, can I have your toolbox?" She joked.

"Good morning, Rose," Jen paused her 'beating' on her husband to grab the girl a plate and started to dress up her breakfast. Rose loved the way Jen served her pancakes. It was always two thick cakes with a healthy slathering of butter on both left near the oven for it to melt properly before she would slice strawberries up and spray a bit of whipped-cream on top.

"It's a fine morning, and it will become a gorgeous morning as soon as that art-piece is in my belly," She smiled.

Jen laughed and handed the plate over to Rose with a fork. Rose gave a small, silent prayer before digging in. Of course, Jen's cooking never disappoints.

"So, Rose," Mart started to talk after flattening out his newspaper and sipping at his coffee, "I can't help but notice that there's a new driver for the shuttle bus."

Rose looked up and swallowed her food, "Yeah, he's a bit of a noob, sometimes forgets his stops and missing his times. It's annoying."

"Wel, he's also taken out Mrs. Minnelli's mailbox, ran over the Jensen's cat, and nearly got stuck in a ditch while Mr. Carver was trying to get to work," Mart huffed.

"Yeah, as I said, total noob," Rose nodded.

"Well, we don't think you should be riding that bus, especially after it snowed so heavily last night," Jen joined into the conversation, sitting down next to Mart.

"But how am I suppose to get to school? Or, you know, into town in general?" Rose asked with a frown. She wasn't sure she was going to like where this was going.

"Well, you have your permit now, and we think it'd be best if you had a bit more experience driving in winter conditions," Jen started, Rose changed her mind, she _really_ liked where this conversation was going.

"We think that you could start taking the Toyota we've got in the back. Now, I know it's ugly and old, not to mention loud, but it'll get you from point A to point-" Mart didn't get to finish his sentence as he had a sixteen year old girl suddenly attached to his neck.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you! Thankyouthankyou THANK YOU!" She jumped up and then gave Jen a hug too. "You guys are too much! I just, really? You guys are really going to let me drive the Toyota?"

"Just remember, it's a small town, and you're paying for your own gas, so I suggest getting a part time at Miss Maebee's or the Corner Stop," Mart suggested.

"Yeah! No problem, I'll get a job, and I'll drive there. I'll freaking _drive_ myself to my own freaking _job_! This is, Christmas is two weeks away! You guys can't possibly be thinking of getting me anything else?" Rose asked looking suspiciously.

"Well, this is the majority of your gift," Jen confirmed.

"Freak! Now I know my gifts suck!" Rose put her hands to her hair and yanked a bit. "Don't worry! I'll get you guys something better! Merry Freaking Christmas!"

With that Rose ran back up the stairs and went to get changed. In the kitchen Jen and Mart smiled at each other, remembering, yet again, how happy they were that they took Rose in. She really was the daughter they wished they could have had.

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't really have anything to add here, but, yeah.

Later

~K


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** So I know that I have dropped off the face of the Earth for a bit but there is reason. First off, I haven't been very inspired to write on Half Truths lately. I have done a few other bits to get back into the swing of Fanfiction, but truth is I have been fighting with my Muse to help me get more written for this story. Second, Chapter Five has been in my computer for a while, and so had Chapter Six. Unfortunately, I had to do a hard wipe of my computer's drive and a few documents were lost. I finally found this chapter, by complete accident, but Chapter Six is no where to be seen. Thirdly, I have less time to actually do many of my hobbies and right now there are just too many projects that need done. I am broke so for Christmas I was going to make portraits for my family and close friends. I currently at 12/6/16 have NONE of them done. I also have an Art Show booked in May and need to get other works done for the show. So writing is understandably very low on my priorities. I am so sorry that I left you guys hanging, and I'll try to redo Chapter Six as much as I can and keep as much of the integrity that it had when the story was my main focus, while trying to get this other crap outta the way. I make no promises though.

 **Previously on Half Truths:**

Greta has been brought up to date on Angles/Demons and the new Justice team Cassy and Kon are starting. James Jr. has woken up with no memories as Bruce promised. Tim and Wally were on their way back to the apartment in Bludhaven. And Rose just got a new car from her Foster Parents.

ENJOY!

* * *

Chapter Five:

Tim woke up in Dick's bed for the second morning in a row. This time, the sent of bacon and eggs and, this is the one that made his mouth water, coffee filled the apartment. Tim decided to get up and make his way groggily down the hall and into the small kitchenette. There, Dick was standing in front of the coffee pot while Wally was cooking breakfast. The two had been talking, but stopped in favor to greet the young demon child.

"Morning, Timmy." Dick handed his little brother a cup of Joe as he spoke. Tim accepted the offering as Dick kept talking. "Sorry for flaking out on you yesterday. I can make it up to you? Wally was telling me how well your play-date with Bart went and I was thinking that maybe the four of us could go hang out at the arcade-"

Tim put his hand up to silence Dick and took a large drink of the dark liquid in his hand. Once he had some caffeine in his system, he lowered his hand and spoke. "No."

With that Tim went to sit at the table.

As he suspected, Dick followed him with a pout. "But why? I was looking forward to my Timmy-Time."

"Ever think it's because you call it 'Timmy-Time'?" Tim asked. Wally snorted by the stove top but otherwise kept quiet. "Besides, Bart and I had plans for today."

"I wanna join," Dick whined.

"Can you get from Central to Buldhaven to Gotham in less than an hour?" Tim asked with a raised brow.

"No fair. Just because I'm human is no excuse to exclude me." Dick smiled while he spoke so Tim knew he wasn't actually upset.

"Hn," Tim grunted and went back to his coffee.

"So you're going to show Bart around the surface world, huh? Be careful, he's a speedster, and a young one at that," Wally warned from the kitchen, putting the eggs and bacon on a plate before bringing it and three more to the table. "He means well, but Bart isn't very well behaved, chances are you'll lose him a few times. If he gets to be too much trouble, don't hesitate to call me or Barry."

Tim gave Wally a nod before grabbing a plate and serving himself. The three fell into a comfortable silence as they ate before the door opened to show a very exhausted looking Barbara Gordon. She stumbled over to the table and sat down, taking a plate for herself.

"Morning." Her voice was heavily from how tired she obviously was.

"Just getting in?" Dick asked.

"James woke up at the hospital, no memory what so ever," Barbara explained. "Turns out to be a lot more difficult to deal with than you ever made it look, Dick."

"Sorry, I'll try to have more issues next time," Dick smirked at her. "So how is James holding up?"

"He's confused, understandably. The doctors think that he'll memories will come back in a few weeks, if not, then a few months," Barbara was staring down her breakfast at this point. "He's a lot easier to be around, which I kind of feel bad for even thinking."

"Not that anyone really blames you," Tim muttered quietly. Dick gave his bother a warning look before looking back to Babs.

"How's Jim taking it all?" He asked.

Barbara gave a hollow laugh, "He's torn; happy that James it alright, angry at James for getting into trouble, annoyed that he can't even properly lecture James for his misdeeds, and not-so-secretly relieved at the second chance to help him help himself. All in all, he's trying to find a good balance of being there for James and not smothering him."

"You call your mother?"

"She won't answer." Barbara glared at the table. Tim could see between the look that Dick gave her and the reaction Barbara just had at the mention of her mother, Babs obviously blamed her mom for everything that went wrong in James' life.

After that the conversation is dropped in favor of food and coffee. The four slowly glide back to brighter conversation as Dick asks about Bart. With or without the ability to see Tim's eyes, Dick can still tell that his younger brother is doing better already. It's not a complete fix, but it's a step in the right direction.

* * *

Diana Prince made her way to the crystal like fortress that sat solidly upon the clouds. If there was one thing the Family of El knew, it was how to make a statement. The fortress was big and foreboding, a reminder to all that they were unwelcome do to their being unworthy. Diana use to respect the wishes of the El's and kept her distance from the fortress, having similar rules when it came to her own home in the Sky Plane. However, ever since Kal-El included Kon in the list of those unwelcome, the Angelic Warrior had enough of Kal's 'solitude bull-shit'.

Marching up the stairs, not caring who she offended in the possess (which there was literally only one creature in all of existence that it would offend left and she honestly didn't care if he was offended anymore), Diana went in search for the idiot who sent their charges on a wild-goose chase through Gotham.

"Kal-El!" She called out when she decided she didn't want to spend a couple of hours looking for the other angel.

"You know you aren't welcomed here, Diana," Kal reminded his friend.

"You need the company," Diana shrugged and made her way to where she heard his voice. She found him in front of his meraculum. It was pretty much a giant computer that operated on crystals and magic. Kal was keeping an eye on Luthor while the man was waiting for his court date behind bars. They both knew he wasn't going to be there for very long, but if the man was smart, which is something he bragged he was, he'd know that it was probably the safest place for him after attacking the Bat-clan.

After Diana learned who Luthor went after to get his immortality, it took every ounce of her maturity and reasonable thinking not to say 'I told you so'. Well, she pretty much did say it, but with more words and a bit more snark. But she liked to think it was done with class. Hardly matters, Kal's reaction was the same glare either way.

"Is there a particular reason you've intruded upon the Fortress of Solitude?" Kal muttered under his breath.

"I wish you'd stop calling it that, it makes me just want to mock you," Diana smirked back at him.

"Cassandra is rubbing off on you."

"I'll take that as a compliment. She's proven herself in many ways and I quite admire her spirit." Diana smiled as she leaned against his chair. "There is a reason for my visit."

"And that would be?" Kal's voice was stern. Diana had long since attributed it to him growling if Kal was the type. He wasn't, and she had to admire that a bit.

"The half-demon child you sent Conner and Cassy to Gotham to find, it's proving to be impossible."

"Then they should check Bludhaven, I sent two cities for them to check," Kal 'explained'.

"They don't need to expand their search, they need specifics. Looking for one half-demon in two cities is a needle in a hay stack," Diana gave Kal a pointed look. Kal had the decency to look ashamed for a brief moment before he pressed in one of the crystals and the image changed from Luthor to an over view of Gotham.

"I can't go in further than that, Dark Knight's claim prevents it," He said as he settled the image. "The boy in question, I barely got a good look at him when I was picking Luthor up from the Bats. I heard Dark Knight call him 'Tim' before grabbing him and flying off."

"So, our mysterious demon boy has a name," Diana mused, pulling out her phone to call the kids.

"Trifold," Kal corrected her, and her phone fell right out of her hand.

"A TRIFOLD?" She shouted. "Clark Kent, are you seriously telling me you sent two unprepared and ill-informed teenagers to go rangle a 'Trifold' by their selves?"

"I told you not to call me that, ever," Kal glared at Diana.

"Get back to the point, _Clark_." Kal may not be one for growling, but Diana, Diana practically spoke in nothing but growls when the self-righteous angel beside her really got her going.

"He's still young, practically Cassy's age, and he knows nothing about his own heritage. Dark Knight actually has him believing that he's only demon," Kal justified himself.

"That doesn't make it any better. This boy is a sever danger to himself and others and you want to have him on the same team as our charges?"

"Yes. Because while I disapprove of Dark Knight and his methods, even I can admit that he and his clan are the absolute picture of self control. If this boy can find a proper balance between his two halves, then he could very well be the most important member of their team. And if we intend for their 'little kids' group' to accomplish anything, we need to make certain they have efficient members," Kal's reasoning sounded logical, but his tone rubbed Diana the wrong way, like he was only now coming up with a good excuse to justify his obvious power play.

"Fine, we'll allow the teens to add a trifold to their group. But I want you to think back to the last trifold we faced, Kal, and how he nearly ripped the sky down." With that, Diana made her way out of the fortress, barely remembering to pick up her phone as she did.

* * *

Rose drove away from the strip mall carefully. She didn't have a real license and until she actually started work somewhere within the confines of the building in her rear-view the last thing she needed to do was attract a cop's attention. It didn't help that before she started to go around town grabbing job applications, she pick up Sarah, Marcus, and Lisa so she'd have company.

The three had been grateful for something thing to do as soon as Rose suggested it. Being teenagers in the Podunk town on a weekend meant getting creative in how they spent their free time. It didn't really help that every cop knew each of their families personally. Officer Garret had even headed Rose off once when she got drunk at a friend's house party, and waited for her with the Capshaw's in the kitchen. It was the first time Rose ever had a cop 'tattle' on her to her 'mommy and daddy' instead of just making her spend the night in a cell and calling her social worker. Maybe Mrs. Jeffery was on to something when she sent Rose here after all.

"Oh my gawd! You got an app for 'Swirllie Worllies'? You realize that's the 'chump job' right?" Lisa asked as she was flipping through the empty app stack. She was in the back seat behind Sarah who fought Marcus for 'shot-gun'. The male of the group got the seat behind Rose and was having too much fun making funny faces in her mirror, though she was totally making them back when she could.

"What's a 'chump job'?" Rose voiced her confusion.

"It's a job that doesn't pay enough in ratio to the utter B.S. you're expected to deal with," Sarah replied as she was filling out some of the boxes to another app with a pen, using the dash board of the corolla as a desk. "Though if you did get that job, I'm totally hitting you up for free ice-cream until you get fired."

"You are a horrible friend, but thanks for the heads up," Rose laughed, making a mental note to chuck the 'Swirllie Worllies' job app.

"Hey, Rose, you might want to also think twice about 'Auto-Bull's'. They're like, totally sexist. If they do hire you, it'll be for the 'booth-babe' affect," Marcus warned her from behind her.

"Oh, but she could totally rock that. Imagine getting paid to flirt, like, all day!" Lisa swooned at the thought.

"But I'm not the flirt of the group, Lisa. Think maybe you want to fill that one out for yourself?" Rose asked.

"Hey, what inspires you most about antiques?" Sarah asked with a straight face and even tone, if it wasn't for Marcus snickering behind her, Rose would have thought she was serious.

"Is that really a question?" Rose asked.

Sarah laughed and nodded. "Should I just put down, 'It makes for great fire wood' or do you think the sarcasm would fly over their heads?"

"Leave it, I'll think of something later." Rose shook her head as she mentally readied herself for that fun little detail.

"Lisa, fill this one out for her, your handwriting would be perfect." As Marcus spoke he passed a paper filled with blanks to the girl next to him.

"What's if for?" Rose asked.

"Stacy's Boutique." At his words, Sarah barked out a laugh and Rose paled.

"Oh! I LOVE Stacy's! I need an app from there too!" Lisa fawned over the paper.

"Rose first. We need to make sure our 'shit-shuttle' has a constant gas supply," Sarah joked. They had already unanimously agreed, well three of them agreed, on the nick-name for the ugly little car. Lisa scrunched up her nose, she wanted to go with 'the hipster herder' but was turned down.

Either way, she pulled out her 'lucky' pen and got started, filling out what she already knew for her friend. The conversation jumped again around her as Marcus tried to use the radio.

"Hey, uh, Rose?" Marcus' voice was confused. Rose watched out of the corner of her eye as he pressed the power button for the stereo and then tried to turn up the volume, only for absolutely zero results. Rose just smirked and stayed silent. "Why isn't your radio working?"

"Her radio doesn't work?" Sarah looked up, her face was completely scandalized. Rose felt her smirk grow a little. Poor Sarah lived for music, and a radio that didn't work was her biggest nightmare. Sarah went to action slapping Marcus' hands away to try and mess with the radio, as if she could find the magic button combination that would breath life into the useless device.

"Yeah, guys, give it up." Rose shook her head at her friends. "Really, it's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? We were going to have a road trip this summer, remember? With truck stops, wrong turns, late nights, and car camping. How is that suppose to happen without us going insane, with no radio?"

"I'll get a stereo with my new job," Rose insisted. "And, you know, you could get a job too and pitch in for something fancy?"

Just as it looked like Sarah was going to respond, Lisa asked a question for the app she was still dutifully filling out. "Rose, what's your mom's number?"

Everyone went silent.

In the dead silence, Lisa seemed to realize her mistake and tried to cover. "I mean, 'Jen', do you know 'Jen's number?"

"Um, it- it should be in my phone." Rose's voice shook a little and she gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. She took a couple of deep breaths trying to keep it from bothering her.

Rose really liked her friends. They got it. She was messed up, especially when her mom was mentioned. What's more is they each accepted that she just got all emo as soon as she was. They didn't try to comfort her, sometimes the conversation would keep going with out her so that there wasn't a huge awkward silence dedicated to staring at her while she dealt with it. Rose liked that they did that for her, but she still hated that they needed to. So she tried to push past it and keep it from happening.

Before she could though, they were already at Sarah's house.

"Hey, um, I managed to get everything but the reference numbers on this one. It's the one for 'Miss Maebee's, it's definitely your top choice." Sarah leaned over and gave Rose a half hug.

"Hey, Sarah, I need my book back, Bee Tee Dubs," Lisa called over to the girl who just climbed out.

"Come get it then." Sarah gave Lisa a half glare, mostly because text talk always irritated her, and Lisa knew this very well.

"I might as well get out as well," Marcuse called, opening his door.

"Marc?" Rose looked at him confused.

"You're place is just down the row, right? Might as well head home and get a start on your apps." Marcus pilled the papers neatly in the passenger side as he explained. Lisa was already out the door chasing Sarah down. "Besides, you look like you could really use some 'alone' time to sort things out. Don't worry, I'll catch the bus." He smiled.

"You'll die on the bus," Rose frowned.

Marcus smiled and leaned over her shoulder to kiss her on her cheek. Rose felt herself blush deep at that. It didn't help when the stupid boy in her car winked at her as he pulled back. "That's for worrying about me, Rose-Thorns, but I doubt the world is _that_ lucky."

Rose's heart jumped at his nick-name for her, and it fluttered at his laugh as he left the car. She watched him the entire way to Sarah's front door where he was, no doubt, asking to borrow her phone. They were all broke, and Sarah was the only one to have a working cell among the four of them. The road trip they had planned was their escape this summer, their chance to run from how much they didn't have and just start enjoying what they did. Watching Marcus disappear inside the worn down house, Rose smiled at the thought of enjoying having Marcus at her side all summer long.

With that, the young Wilson girl pulled out of park, and made her way down Fey Row, toward her favorite home.

* * *

Mrs. Grottle had been the master librarian of the Grand Preston Library for forty years, and never, not once, in those forty years had she ever come across someone quite like man before her. It was deep into the evening when the man, wearing what looked like white hospital scrubs, marched right up to her and asked, or more demanded, for her to show him to the news archives. After she directed him to the section of his question, and following him to make certain that he wasn't just going to tear the papers up, she witnessed what had to be the fastest speed reader ever seen. She briefly wondered if the man was even reading the articles as he opened each paper, flipped through it, closed it, put it away, and then opened the next one. Grottle took a moment before she decided to get back to her own work. What ever the man was trying to accomplish, it seemed harmless.

* * *

 **A/N:** So Now we have a bit more back story on Tim's mysterious heritage. What's a Trifold? Did you google it? Don't bother, I made it up. ^w^, So proud of myself. Everything else is mostly set-up, obviously, no real big revelations. Rose having mom trouble's should be pretty much expected, she doesn't really have Daddy Issues, yet,. . . And that person at the end? A lot of you have guessed who it is already, but for those of you who didn't I'll give you a hint, he's cannon. ;) The rest will be a surprise. Again I make no promises as to when Chapter Six will be written. I have a LOT on my plate. But I do appreciate those of you who contacted me asking -*coughbeggingcough*- for me to work more on this. It made me feel guilty in just the right way to put this up. Love you all, and as always,

Later!

~K


	6. Author Announcement! Not DEAD!

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 **A/N:** Hello everyone! I know I haven't posted on Half Truths in a long LONG **LOOOONG** time, and honestly I have no excuse. I still love this story and I still visit it in my mind a lot, I just haven't been inspired to work on it. It doesn't exactly help that about half a year ago I managed to shatter the screen on my laptop. I can still use it for the most part by tethering it to the TV with an HDMI cable making my flat screen into a secondary monitor, but it doesn't give me much flexibility when writing and I have no internet at home.

I am currently typing and posting this in the public library but, holy $#!T are their keyboards loud! It's soooooo awkward T_T...

I do have intentions to keep working on this story, it isn't dead, just on an accidental hiatus. And I really do mean accidental. It was NEVER my intention to put it down! I make no promises, but I will leave you with this, The next chapter is half way finished. At least it's something?


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